de Laguna] ARCIIEOLOGY, YAKUTAT BAY AREA, ALASKA 89 



Whites appeared and that their ancestors used to look for it along 

 the beaches, since anyone who found a nail in driftwood was considered 

 lucky. Iron is said to have been worked like native copper, by 

 heating it in an open fire, and by pounding and grinding it into 

 spearheads, knives, and daggers (fig. 13, d). 

 Drucker (1950, p. 256) also reports: 



Many natives, particularly in the north, maintained that their people had iron 

 long before Europeans appeared on the scene and for corroboration cite any 

 number of traditions relating how some ancestor found a "log" with iron in it 

 along the beach. (The "log" they interpret as a mast of a wrecked vessel.) 

 This traditional motif of the finding of drift iron, if it be a myth, has a wide 

 distribution on the Northwest Coast, or else the event occurred rather often, 

 for the Tolowa of northwest Cahforuia claim their ancestors got iron in the same 

 manner. It is difficult to retain one's skepticism in the face of the plausibility 

 and constant reiteration of this story, although what these vessels with timbers 

 so laden with iron could have been is hard to say. Barbeau (1929) has emphasized 

 the significance of Cook's account of the quantity of iron seen at Nootka Sound. 



Stories about drift iron told by our informants at Angoon and at 

 Yakutat have none of the character of true myths or even of the tales 

 of sib origins, but seem rather to belong to traditional or legendary 

 history and to recount the exploits of real persons. Moreover, these 

 stories never described drift iron as abundant; a single piece was 

 enough to make the finder rich. The reports of the early explorers, 

 including SteUer in 1741, seem to indicate clearly that drift iron was 

 utihzed by the Aleut, Pacific Eskimo, and Northwest Coast Indians 

 before there was du'cct contact with Europeans in the latter part of 

 the IStli century. (See discussion of this evidence in Rickard, 1939, 

 and de Laguna, 1956, pp. 60-64, and som-ces cited there.) 



As was to have been expected, most of the iron at Old Town was 

 recovered in the form of small fragments, so heavily rusted that it 

 was usually difficult to determine the original shapes. The largest 

 piece (pi. 4, I), 8.9 by 2.7 by 0.9 cm., was probably the blade for a 

 small adz or chisel. It is thickest in the middle, thinning toward 

 the now damaged ends. The parallel edges seem to have been ham- 

 mered to Up over shghtly. This specimen is from Old Town III. 

 A blade for adz or scraper (pi. 4, k), from Old Town II, measures 

 4.6 by 3.7 by 0.5 cm., and is similar in shape to blades now used in 

 long-handled fleshers to scrape skins. Five small pieces of iron, none 

 now over 4.8 cm. in length or 0.2 cm. in thiclaiess, appear to be frag- 

 ments of knife blades (pi. 4, h, e, h, j). Of these, four are from Old 

 Town II and the fifth from Old Town III. There are also three 

 fragments of what appear to be square-cut nails from Old Town III 

 (pi. 4, a, c,j) and another from Old Town II (pi. 4, c?). A slender pin 

 from Old Town II (pi. 4, g), 6.6 cm. long, pointed at one end and 

 blunt at the other, ma}^ have been used as an awl or drill. Lastly, 



